Introduction: Disney in 2016
There is hardly a single company that can match Disney in terms of its history, impact, and imagination. It is quite remarkable that the company which is criticized so harshly for the stereotypes that it has been promoting in the children media is also praised unanimously for its methods and management.
Filling people in equal parts with condescension and delight, the tools used by the entrepreneurship are clearly worth discussing. However, despite its splendid success among the target audience members, the entrepreneurship could use several improvements in its leadership, ethics, and marketing to make its services even more attractive, as well as enhance customer loyalty rates growth among its clients.
Leadership: Mickey Mouse Disapproves
Although the current leadership approach allows for running the organization in a very efficient manner, some of the aspects of the style adopted by the company’s CEO and managers may raise a few eyebrows. Specifically, the C-Suite issue needs to be addressed. According to a recent study on the subject matter, the firm could use more diversity in its C-Suite department:
Within the leadership team at The Walt Disney Company, there are few differences in their demographics. Disney’s organization of leaders is broken into a management team that consists of C-suite members and the board of directors. Predominantly, they are white males and white females with similar educational statuses within very close age ranges of one another. (Gates, 2015, par. 6)
Therefore, the principles that the current leadership approach is based on the need to be reconsidered. One might argue that the identified characteristic of the organization is merely a coincidence. However, as the author of the article points out, the firm has been showing the propensity to promote a certain type of employee, therefore, preventing diversity from becoming a part of the corporate culture.
Marketing: The High Art of Pandering
Walt Disney Corporation’s primary target audience includes children (). However, the organization also focuses on family entertainment; for instance, a range of its movies have become timeless classics that are well enjoyed by kids and adults alike. One of the most ambiguous aspects of the company’s operations, the marketing strategy currently used by the entrepreneurship managers often makes even the most devoted customers cringe. There is no need in a detailed observation to notice that Walt Disney Company’s (WDC) marketing approach desperately lacks subtlety.
At present, the entrepreneurship is clearly feared toward expansion, with a very strong competitive position and a consistent market growth. As a result, aggressive marketing and a rather strong diversification of its target audience, with a very heavy emphasis on gender stereotypes, is used to a significant extent by the company’s marketers.
In light of the fact that the company also sells toys to its target demographics, the gender-based segmentation of the population is carried out in accordance with the gender stereotypes that are common in the American culture. The identified approach has been the source of numerous criticisms, with a range of researchers pointing to the fact that Disney panders to the stereotypical interpretation of male and female gender roles without educating children on the phenomenon of diversity and equality:
The negative effects for girls aren’t limited to damaging stereotypical behavior alone. The study also shows that girls with worse body esteem engage more with the Disney Princesses over time, perhaps seeking out role models of what they consider to be beautiful. (McBride, 2016, par. 10)
Although the characteristic described above has been an integral part of the Disney approach toward marketing its products and has made it a household name, in the today’s sensitive environment, it may easily become the source of conflict. Much to the credit of the company, though, it also offers a plethora of gender-neutral toys that can be well enjoyed by boys and girls alike, such as Chip Mug (Disney, Inc., 2016). In fact, the study under analysis has pointed to the fact that the factors compelling children to choose the toys of a particular type as opposed to gender-neutral production also released by the entrepreneurship are also societal (McBride, 2016)
It could also be argued that as efficient as it is, the current Disney marketing machine lacks flexibility. Used to apply the traditional framework of aggressive promotion of its merchandise, the entrepreneurship has been operating so smoothly in its local environment that the expansion to the European area returned quite predictable disappointment (). Specifically, the fact that the organization marketers did not take the specifics of the market and the customers’ behavioral patterns into account needs to be brought up.
For instance, Disney marketers overlooked the fact that visiting Paris, people are likely to consider the local sights that are the trademark of the city as opposed to the Disneyland products. Much to the company’s credit, the ability to address the needs of the customers without altering its products or services considerably was set in motion quite fast. By making sure that the attractions should retain their specific flair of the American culture and that the quality of the services and products should be impeccable, the company managed to raise its sales in the French environment considerably:
Disney did not consider that European countries have different standards of living compared to American where they can afford to pay $30 daily to visit Disney. Europeans cannot afford to pay 40 French Franks for a daily entry; this is due to difference of purchasing power parity of different visitors from all around the world. (Yue, 2009, p. 89)
Another reason for concern is, ironically enough, related to the success of the aggressive marketing framework that Disney has chosen. According to recent reviews of the way, in which the Disneyland operates, the abundance of visitors makes it a problem for the product to remain entertaining – instead, a range of people are likely to describe the experience as frustrating.
As recent reviews say, “The Magic Kingdom was so crowded,” said Zhang, “that they closed the door, and you couldn’t get a ticket” (Hill, 2015). Therefore, the approach that the company adopts to attract new customers needs to align with the opportunities that it can offer to its target audience. At present, the customers seem to be fairly satisfied with the experience (), yet the consistent drop in quality is likely to trigger a chain reaction of complaints. The latter, in their turn, may contribute to the reduction in the number of customers and, as a result, a drop in revenues.
Based on the characteristics of the organization’s approach to marketing provided above, a new and improved strategy for attracting new customers and keeping the current ones invested can be suggested. First of all, Disney will have to consider the introduction of diversity to its products. The company has been known for following a rather safe strategy for creating generic products that do not adders any of the socially controversial issues.
Therefore, as soon as the company starts pushing new and challenging ideas as the foundation of its marketing approach, it may lose its target customers. Therefore, it will be necessary for the company to try appealing to as many members of the population as possible, creating both the goods designed with the traditional segmentation in mind and more gender-neutral ones. Moreover, the ones that bend the current stereotypes and push the envelope in terms of the societal representation of gender roles should be considered on par with the standard products created by the entrepreneurship. As a result, the company will be able to remain fresh and new.
Ethics: The Devil Is in Detail
Although Disney has been known for its stellar reputation as far as the ethical issues are concerned, a recent onslaught of accusations concerning the ethically questionable choices made by the organization can be viewed as the reason for concern. More disturbingly, the company’s ethical framework has failed in several domains, as recent reports show quite graphically (Couch, 2013). It is essential that the entrepreneurship should reconsider its current values, as well as redesign the leadership approach so that the supervision of the decision-making processes carried out by the staff members and managers could become visible and, thus, addressable.
Indeed, casting a single look at the recent mentioning of the company’s name in the media will point to the fact that the corporation has been facing a plethora of issues over the past 5 years. For instance, the choices that Disney made when acquiring Marvel needs to be brought up. As a recent report on the subject matter shows, the CEO of the entrepreneurship tends to apply rather harsh and sometimes even drastic measures when it comes to controlling the acquired organizations (Couch, 2013). Particularly, the reception that the Marvel employees have received in the organization, as well as the low extent, to which their ideas are taken into account when making company-related decisions, needs to be listed among the primary concerns.
It could be argued, though, that the problem mentioned above is a side effect of the leadership framework used at Disney, which treasures its staff members greatly and, therefore, makes extensive attempts to cater to their every need. Indeed, up until recently, the approach adopted by the entrepreneurship in terms of addressing the requirements of the employees has been viewed as stellar and almost exemplary. For instance, the contemporary HR experts owe it to Disney that they are capable of applying the phenomenon of smart supervision to their business environment.
According to the description provided by the company’s HRM experts, the subject matter can be determined as the combination of essential rules that allow for a reasonable allocation of the existing resources, including time, money, staff, etc. It should be borne in mind that the communication with the staff members takes a special place in the list of the firm’s tools for improving the operations. According to the latest report on Disney’s process, its leaders insist that the following steps should be taken to manage the corporate environment successfully:
“Have your first quarterly progress review of the performance agreement and set new goals. In addition, allow the employee to rewrite his or her job description if it is outdated and no longer matches the current and ongoing activities of the job,” says Branham. (Lipp, 2013, p. 8)
In other words, a more elaborate approach towards goal-setting and decision-making should be viewed as the basis for the company’s further progress. Despite the fact that the company’s ethics cannot be viewed as entirely flawed – quite on the contrary, it should be deemed as rather nuanced; – it still lacks the integrity that would allow the entrepreneurship’s managers to focus on the needs of all stakeholders involved. The ethical stance that Disney has assumed can be considered rather strong, yet it may need further changes so that it could address the needs of all parties involved, including the customers, the employees, etc.
Obstacles: The Threats of Employee Dissatisfaction
It is expected that some of the staff members will be unwilling to change the traditional organizational behavior patterns. As a result, the necessity to introduce incentives, including both financial rewards and public appraisals, for compliance with the new regulations will emerge.
In addition, the changes to the C-Suite department, which drastically lacks diversity at present, are likely to give the new approach a rather hostile reception. Indeed, expecting that people expecting promotion will accept the fact that their chances for a rapid career advancement will shrink due to the new policy based on equality and diversity would be quite naive. Naturally, they are not likely to voice their concerns directly because of the threat of being dismissed, yet they may start carrying a grudge against the company leaders. A drop in performance is expected.
Addressing the identified challenge will become a possibility once the company reinforces its values and ethics, therefore, making it clear that the people working for the organization will have to accept the idea of equal opportunities. At the same time, providing more opportunities for the employees to receive rewards, get public appraisals, etc. must be considered a necessity.
Impact: Slowly but Surely
Claiming that the changes to the design of the company’s communication and ethics will have an immediate effect would be quite a stretch. However, it is expected that the implications are going to leave a positive impact. Particularly, the basis for building more trustworthy relationships with customers and employees alike will be created due to the refusal from pandering and inhibiting diversity.
Timeline: Actions, Effects, and Follow-up Steps
Needless to say, the changes mentioned above are likely to occur at a rather slow pace in the cm[any. Given its size and scale, it would be unreasonable to assume that every single employee will understand, accept, and implement the new decision-making and resource-management strategies suggested above. More importantly, some of the changes to the current design of the organization will require that the very leadership approach adopted at Disney should be altered toward a more rigid supervision. Hence, it is assumed that each of the stages listed above will take approximately a month to be incorporated into the company’s design.
Table 1. Timeline
Reference List
Couch, A. (2013). The Walt Disney Corporation: Marvel CEO taking over.
Disney, Inc. (2016). Disneystore.
Gates, G. (2015). Leadership analysis: The Walt Disney Company.
Hill, A. (2015). Disney tries to solve its popularity problem.
Lipp, D. (2013). Disney U: How Disney University develops the world’s most engaged, loyal and customer-centric employees. Smart Supervision, 12(8), 1-8.
McBride, J. (2016). Study finds Disney Princess culture magnifies stereotypes in young girls.
Yue, W. (2009). The fretful Euro Disneyland. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 1(2), 87-91.